


Run, boy, run

by strawberry_cider



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Ace Artemis, Asexual Character, Biting, Blood and Injury, Character Death, F/M, Fear Play, Guro, Hunter/Hunted, One Shot, Predator/Prey, Short One Shot, Sort Of, nothing sexual happens but Zagreus does get hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:34:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27630796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberry_cider/pseuds/strawberry_cider
Summary: Zagreus is chased through the woods.
Relationships: Artemis & Zagreus (Hades Video Game), Artemis/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 35





	Run, boy, run

**Author's Note:**

> I listened to so many remixes of this song while writing this

Zagreus had just gotten used to staying for longer periods of time on the surface. Now his lungs ached and burned as though they were going to give up any moment. So did the soles of his feet. The sun had went down what felt like a long time ago, he had no idea where he was. He could hear them, all of them, chasing behind him, always there, not giving him a moment to catch his breathe. For mortals and nymphs, the girls were extremely good endurance runners. Zagreus had the hunch they could hunt him for days on end without stopping. Even if they weren't able to catch up with him, he could hear them laughing at his fate, the sound echoing around the trees. They were alright with not catching him. They knew their leader would.

When Zagreus told his lord father and mother that he was going to join Artemis on a hunting trip, he got the feeling they thought he was going on a date with her. It was not, of course. He knew Artemis did not care for relationships. She received all the love and intimacy she needed from Callisto and the other girls. She had told Zagreus in private that she never felt the need to take the bonds any further, and that, frankly, she could not understand why her family got themselves in so many sex scandals. She found them fools for it, but admitted she might be the same way with her girls had she experienced the same desires.

That day, Zagreus witnessed a different type of desire in Artemis. She and her pack spent all day hunting, accompanied by Zagreus. If even they didn't catch their prey, they seemed to enjoy themselves greatly. Artemis smiled and laughed in ways Zagreus rarely saw her when in the company of other gods. It made Zagreus feel a strange sense of pride and cockiness, that he was the only one who got to see it. Well, he, Callisto, and everyone else in the hunting party. Artemis' eyes and hair got wilder and wilder with each prey, Zagreus could see her heart thump in the veins in her neck, the excited and impatient mannerisms of her hands around the bow. Artemis would let go of her calm and collected demeanour in the forest, becoming something of a wild animal herself. Zagreus would come to regret this comparison he made in his mind, for its prophetic nature.

Artemis ran out of arrows. Zagreus offered to go pick the last one out of the stag she just shot to the ground. He ran to it, hopping over a small river. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, as a feeling of dread washed over him. He looked back over his shoulder and saw Artemis, eyes wild and bow discarded to the ground, lunging towards him. Instinctively, before he could think about it, Zagreus ran away from her. This only made Artemis' bloodlust stronger and she started chasing him, the girls shouting in delight and doing the same. Zagreus had no time to question or to yell at her for answers, he had to run. He knew that if anything bad happened, he'd just wake up in the blood of Styx, but something in him, in the back of his mind, told him to _run, run like hell_.

Zagreus ran for hours, which is not much in the life of a god, but it certainly felt so while being chased. He became acutely aware of how loud he was. His breathing, his footsteps, the burn of the sticks and leaves he stepped on, the branches and bushes he tanked through. He could not hide himself from Artemis, she could find him with ease, anywhere in the world, any world. He could not hear her behind him, but he knew that if he looked back she would be there, in the horizon or only a few feet behind him. He could not lose her, he had no escape. Artemis and her huntresses could chase him for as long as needed. It was only a matter of time until Zagreus tripped, or collapsed in exhaustion. This helplessness made Zagreus' heart pound faster than it ever did before and seized his already tired lungs. He was god, he wasn't used to such primal fear. The huntresses laughed and laughed and he could feel Artemis' eyes burning into the back of his neck, deciding which angle would be best to crack it for a finishing blow.

Zagreus had no idea where he was going. He didn't have a certain direction. He ran whichever way he thought there were no huntresses. Sometimes one or more of them would run parallel to him, forcing him to take a different route. Several times he ran across the starting point of their hunting expedition. They were chasing him in circles. They were toying with him, tiring him out, wearing out his body and his psyche. They laughed and laughed, cackles that sounded more and more like wild beasts.

There were periods of time where he did not hear a thing except for his own panicked breathing and running. It was a trick, of course. The moment he slowed down his pace, there would be rustling of branches and skirts, letting him know they were still there, still catching up, right behind him, breathing down his neck.

Zagreus' lungs were on fire. It hurt to breathe, air felt like knives. He didn't want to run anymore, he couldn't. He had already fallen to his knees, wheezing and vision blurring, when he felt someone slamming him to the forest ground. His chest and face skidded against the dead leaves and mud. Hands roughly grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him around to lie on his back. Zagreus felt Artemis' knees dig into his chest before his eyes focused on her. The moon, her guide, shone behind her. Dark eyes stared down at him, pupils blown out, and the crown with antlers standing proud. Her braid came unravelled and was strewn over her shoulders. Zagreus thought he could see some leaves in it, which would have been funny in another context.

Her huntresses caught up and gathered round Zagreus. Their teeth shone in the moonlight as they smiled, cruel and giddy, but nobody moved a finger without Artemis' command. Their leader shifted, straddling Zagreus' chest instead. Zagreus gasped for air, which hurt but was grateful for. Artemis planted her hands on his shoulders again and leaned to his neck. Zagreus shuddered and his own hands moved to her thighs. He felt her smile against his neck. "Fool." She whispered. He had really hoped she and her huntresses didn't notice the arousal between his legs, but turns out he was wrong. To get so worked up by the thought of imminent death was not something he knew about himself.

The smile lasted for one second before Artemis bit Zagreus' neck, her teeth turning into one of a lioness. Zagreus heard the crunch loud and clear and a paralysing white pain. He tried to scream, but Artemis tore his throat open, muting him until his next revival. He could feel his owl blood spraying out and coating everything around it. The last thing he felt before dying completely was the other huntresses descending upon him, biting and tearing like their leader, everywhere they could reach.

Zagreus emerged from Styx with a start, gasping for air and clutching at his neck. It took him a moment to recognise his surroundings. A few shades looked at him with concern.

“Oh! Welcome back!” Hypnos said. “Was there a hunting accident? Is everything ok?”

“That was no accident.” Zagreus huffed, still rubbing his neck. “It was well-planned.”

“Oh, uh... Alright. So no more hunting trips for a while?”

“Oh, _I'm going back right now_.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
